With all the disparate influences Sonorous has in its lexis, the percentages of what you’re going to get (and when) are always in flux, and this clashing of expectations constitutes the best moments on the group’s second CD, recorded “live” to tape during two successive nights at the Lost Leaf…
British singer Dusty Springfield was the diva de tutti dive of the “Tough and Tender” genre, in the sense that no matter how sweet the pop confection, she was guarded in all directions but one — the only place she allowed some vulnerability to show was straight down the pipes…
Though he might not be a household name, this Brooklyn-based musician’s had a fruitful career as a sideman for jazz and pop artists (including Norah Jones) and as a songwriter. On what is only his second solo release, he showcases new material that follows up on his 2002 debut, Come…
The two-minute take on “New York, New York” that opens Cat Power’s second album of covers is almost too easy. Iconic to a fault and not too engaging musically, it’s mostly a warm-up for Chan Marshall and her newly minted Dirty Delta Blues Band. The group succeeds The Greatest’s Memphis…
Fans of this Philadelphia six-piece will undoubtedly hail Angels of Destruction! as its best album; it’s certainly Marah’s most accessible and expansive record to date. There’s always been an honest theatricality and a colorful, imaginative flair running through Marah’s musical stories, but Angels takes them to a new level entirely…
Though they’re still waiting to make a big splash in America, The Editors have been making waves in the U.K., earning them the headlining spot in this traveling circus of a tour. The British post-punk band follows in the steps of international rock sensations like Franz Ferdinand and Interpol but…
No tough goth punk worth his or her high-heeled steel-toed boots would let a broken collarbone get in the way of making great glam trash music. Not only did Wednesday 13, former vocalist/guitarist of Murderdolls and Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13, continue performing after a devastating car crash last…
While this Oakland quartet owes a substantial debt to Cali peers Green Day and blink-182, they’ve always demonstrated promiscuous tastes. Their second album, 2006’s Decomposer, employs nine different producers in forging its eclectic sound. Influences vary widely, from electro-industrial to baroque pop to glam metal and ’80s New Wave, all…
Last year, local hip-hop duo The Premiere self-released a phenomenal album, London Paris New York — an audio opus packed with instrumentation from garage-rock guitar solos to New Wave synths, all layered over beds of bouncing beats and clever raps (“Patrick Swayze” still gets our vote for catchiest local song…
To hell with Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown, and the other aging Spice Girls and their so-called reunion. We’ve found a better outlet to get overloaded with girl power — Platform Wednesdays, a hump-day hootenanny and “queer dance party” that goes down at E-Lounge, 4343 North Seventh Avenue. Every week, smokin’…
We don’t want to hate on downtown Phoenix. Sure, it has its problems, but bagging on this city is as played out as skinny jeans. We’re over it. So when a new bar opens up, we get super-stoked. Such was the case when we hopped into The Rose & Crown…
Ahhh . . . Mexico! Nothing like starting out the New Year on a long stretch of beach with a trio of lovely, successful women. Trouble is, I was just one of the girls. We drank wine, cooked meals, and wrote resolutions on paper, then burned them in the fire…
After having participated in the soundtrack of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (she provided the singing voice of Jenna Fischer in “Let’s Duet”), Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Angela Correa emerges with her own three-track EP, in anticipation of her upcoming full release. On this short sample, one gets the idea…
Beanie Sigel’s rough-and-ready new CD stands in direct contrast to his onetime mentor Jay-Z’s latest. While Hov reminisces about his pre-posh days on American Gangster, Sigel is still living them on The Solution. Since his last album (2005’s The B.Coming), Sigel was acquitted of attempted murder and spent some time…
His name may not be familiar, but Bishop Lamont is becoming one of the craftiest MCs on the West Coast. He’s released a series of buzz-building mix tapes since signing with Dr. Dre two years ago, the latest of which, Caltroit, is an impressive collaboration with producer/rapper Black Milk, a…
In 2006, gay singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright re-created gay icon Judy Garland’s 1961 smash album, Judy at Carnegie Hall, note for note in concert at the venerable New York venue. Well, almost note for note. Wainwright couldn’t quite match Garland’s zingy swing. But he was so determined to get it right…
In the underrated Allison Anders movie Grace of My Heart (in which Ileana Douglas starred as a singer/songwriter loosely based on Carole King), Bridget Fonda has a cameo as a teen-dream 1960s pop singer who’s a closeted (duh) lesbian. The song Fonda’s character sings in the movie, “My Secret Love,”…
As one of the most prolific composers of his generation, Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington wrote, throughout his long career, movie soundtracks (Otto Preminger’s 1959 Anatomy of a Murder is a great example), classical scores, and many tunes that are now considered American standards. More than 30 years after his passing,…
Mainstream indie rock may seem like a contradiction in terms, but that hasn’t stopped The Bravery from winning over new fans. Hailed as “the next big thing” by MTV and the popular music press after the release of its 2005 self-titled debut, the band emerged as part of a new…
Magic Bullets’ bouncy New Wave pop (often sung with an affected British accent) sounds like a lot like Echo & the Bunnymen, but this San Francisco sextet puts its own spin on things. For example, the song “Spent Nights,” from the group’s 2006 debut, a CHILD but in life yet…
“The Fresh Prince” himself, Will Smith, is rumored to be coming to P-town for the big game. Same with George Clooney, Vince Vaughn, and numerous other glitterati who’ll jet into the Valley sometime during the next 72 hours to partake in the non-stop partying going down in honor of Super…
Considering the stiff penalties for drinking and driving, it’s not often we make our way to the outskirts of town for a cocktail. But on Friday, January 18, we were feeling particularly sober and decided to check out a brand-new joint in north Scottsdale called Vocé Ristoranté & Lounge. Being…
